Various different types of hangers have been developed over the years to hang various different types of garments. For example, creased slacks typically are hung by aligning the crease in each leg of the slacks and then clamping horizontally opposed ends of either the waist or cuff to a hanger body. Alternatively, the slacks are draped over the horizontal rod portion of the hanger, with the creased edges of the slacks aligned on both sides, and then clamped by some means to maintain the position of the slacks with respect to the horizontal rod. In both cases, however, it is often difficult and cumbersome to maintain alignment of the creases of the slacks and operate the clamping mechanism at the same time. It is even more difficult, in these types of prior art hangers, to place the garment on the hanger or remove the garment from the hanger while the hanger is suspended from a clothes rod in a closet or on a store rack.
In some common prior art hanger designs, the clamps used to hold the garment in place on the hanger must exert a sufficient clamping force in order to support the entire weight of the garment. As a result, the clamps often times have to be manufactured apart from the hanger itself, and then later assembled to the hanger. Additionally, in many designs the clamps operate transversely to the plane of the hanger, thus increasing the width of the overall hanger structure. Such increased width in turn increases the space required for packaging, shipping and closet storage.
For the reasons explained above, prior art hangers designed to hold creased garments tend to be bulky, difficult to use and costly to produce.